The present invention relates to a user interface method and device, and a computer program.
Many sketch interfaces are available that allow the user to perform interaction in the three-dimensional space through a two-dimensional operation. For example, see Teddy in Igarashi, T., Satoshi, M., Hidehiko, T., “Teddy: A Sketching Interface for 3D Freeform Design”, in Proc. of SIGGRAPH 99, 409-416, 1999, and Flat3D in Hiroaki Tobita, Junichi Rekimoto, “Flat3D: A Shared Virtual 3D World System for Creative Activities and Communication”, IPSJ JOURNAL, Vol. 44, No. 02, 2003. The operation of such sketch interface systems is simple because the user can perform all operations in three dimensions in exactly the same manner as the user performs operations in two dimensions. On the other hand, it is sometimes difficult to simply acquire an object with exact fidelity to the design image because the result of drawing work depends largely on the user's design skill.
Another method for building a scene is by describing the parameters (shape, position, size, color, etc.) of an object in the two- or three-dimensional space as a script. For example, see the Maya™ Mel script in Alias|wavefront company homepage http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/news/home.shtml. The scene building method using a script like this allows the user to build a scene as if the user wrote a sentence but requires the user to describe a script using an editor. This prevents the user from interacting directly with the three-dimensional space. In addition, because the user must memorize the operation/behavior of the syntax rules and functions for describing a script in order to acquire an intended scene or object, many users cannot perform the operation easily.